Baked Alaska

When you click play on your first Baked Alaska video you’re not sure what you’re watching. Is this real or is this a joke? It seems like a joke, but his raps are kinda good. This video has really high production value, this must be one expensive joke…But it’s not.

“Baked” has secured more than 6,000 Twitter followers, a Sunday feature in the Anchorage Daily News and 35,000 combined Youtube views. Not bad for an unsigned, not-sure-if-he’s-joking-or-not rapper. Now living in LA, the Alaskan hip hop sensation filmed several music videos on a recent trip back to his old stomping grounds of Kenai and Anchorage. His latest video “Grizzly Bear Trappin” released yesterday and has nearly 1,500 views.

Is he gangster? Judge for yourself. The KXLL interview is coming soon. - KTOO Public Media

When you click play on your first Baked Alaska video you’re not sure what you’re watching. Is this real or is this a joke? It seems like a joke, but his raps are kinda good. This video has really high production value, this must be one expensive joke…But it’s not.

“Baked” has secured more than 6,000 Twitter followers, a Sunday feature in the Anchorage Daily News and 35,000 combined Youtube views. Not bad for an unsigned, not-sure-if-he’s-joking-or-not rapper. Now living in LA, the Alaskan hip hop sensation filmed several music videos on a recent trip back to his old stomping grounds of Kenai and Anchorage. His latest video “Grizzly Bear Trappin” released yesterday and has nearly 1,500 views.

Is he gangster? Judge for yourself. The KXLL interview is coming soon. - KTOO Public Media

The comedy/music video artist currently known as Baked Alaska is a 25-year-old white male who grew up in Anchorage. His publicist calls him Baked, for short, and refuses to tell me his real name. This is great for two reasons.

1. I get to walk around the restaurant prior to the interview and ask people, "Excuse me, are you Baked?" This is well worth showing up early.

2. I get to think up a fun, food-related name for myself. "What do you think of Smoked Salmon? No, not the fish. The girl. The reporter. She's pretty awesome."

Baked Alaska bills himself as the "hottest emcee out of the coldest state." He likes to make rap videos about Alaska -- and cats -- but has yet to come over and make a video of my roommate's Alaska cats. And, as a self-professed "cross between Weird Al, Lonely Island, Borat and Jackass," he is obnoxious on purpose -- in his videos, anyway.

"People either understand and get it, or totally hate it," he says. And that's OK with him. "I want people to superficially judge me super hard. So they think I'm a wacky douchebag; I've always been the underdog. When somebody tells me I can't do something, it's the best inspiration there is."

His high school friend and "idea man," Ben, is also joining us. He has an idea almost immediately. "People don't realize that it's satire. If this were on SNL (Saturday Night Live), you wouldn't take it so seriously. Some people just don't get it."

For example: "In L.A.," says Baked, "when I say I'm from Alaska, I'm like, the only one. People ask me, 'Did you dogsled to school?' 'Did you have a pet penguin?' I like egging them on (in the videos), taking it to the hilt."

But in the videos, he explains, "everyone from Alaska knows what's real."

Baked Alaska has more than 5,000 Twitter fans, and that is his true platform. He makes a point of not just responding to his fans via twitter, but enlisting their advice, and accepting invitations to meet and hang out. He considers his videos a community project, and asks things like, "What should I make my next video about" (riding a polar bear!) and "What's the first word that comes to your mind?" then incorporating those things into lyrics and shoots.

But once in a while, the response is not so nice; in fact, his YouTube comments are like watching swing state news in an election year.

"I've gotten death threats on YouTube," he says. "I never thought a video could make people so mad."

In the video "I Climb Mountains," someone suggested he fall off a mountain. He says he was pretty offended at first. But then he smiled, looked at me intently and adds, "I've thought about making a video called 'YouTube Haters' and including screen shots with all the comments."

I'm starting to like this guy and to dislike the negative commentators, particularly the one that said "rap about something that matters" in the one video -- "NSA (No Snooping Allowed)" -- that I thought really did matter beyond the scope of comedy and entertainment, and even the underlying social commentary. In fact, this is not my genre of music and I doubt I'm his target audience, but I hope he makes more videos like it. Big issues need to reach all people. Why not through this form of freedom of speech and expression?

Before He was Baked

Before he was Baked, he graduated from a local private high school. He told me which one but didn't want me to say. Maybe it would be uncool for him to associate with it. Or maybe he knows that graduating someone who uses the F-word all over the Internet isn't likely to attract many new parents to his alma mater.

Baked Alaska has the charisma of a former student body president. Parody videos he made in high school got even the teachers laughing. The more he thought about it later in life, the more he decided it was time to play to his own strengths.

"It was 100 percent good feedback; that's when it clicked for me. I've always been what Baked Alaska is, it just wasn't focused, or branded. People have always loved my videos. I'm known for prank wars, silly parodies and ridiculous outfits."

Indeed, when we met up, he was scruffy under a hat, wore an oversized army-green coat and had several large chains hanging around his neck, including the golden C3PO from Star Wars that appears in "I Climb Mountains." His wooden sunglasses were especially impressive. And although the mustache is a little weird, his actual persona is enthusiastic and articulate.

"I owe my English teacher a lot of credit. I use literary techniques in lyrics."

They're also full of what he refers to as expectancy violations. "It's when you say the complete opposi - Anchorage Daily News

The comedy/music video artist currently known as Baked Alaska is a 25-year-old white male who grew up in Anchorage. His publicist calls him Baked, for short, and refuses to tell me his real name. This is great for two reasons.

1. I get to walk around the restaurant prior to the interview and ask people, "Excuse me, are you Baked?" This is well worth showing up early.

2. I get to think up a fun, food-related name for myself. "What do you think of Smoked Salmon? No, not the fish. The girl. The reporter. She's pretty awesome."

Baked Alaska bills himself as the "hottest emcee out of the coldest state." He likes to make rap videos about Alaska -- and cats -- but has yet to come over and make a video of my roommate's Alaska cats. And, as a self-professed "cross between Weird Al, Lonely Island, Borat and Jackass," he is obnoxious on purpose -- in his videos, anyway.

"People either understand and get it, or totally hate it," he says. And that's OK with him. "I want people to superficially judge me super hard. So they think I'm a wacky douchebag; I've always been the underdog. When somebody tells me I can't do something, it's the best inspiration there is."

His high school friend and "idea man," Ben, is also joining us. He has an idea almost immediately. "People don't realize that it's satire. If this were on SNL (Saturday Night Live), you wouldn't take it so seriously. Some people just don't get it."

For example: "In L.A.," says Baked, "when I say I'm from Alaska, I'm like, the only one. People ask me, 'Did you dogsled to school?' 'Did you have a pet penguin?' I like egging them on (in the videos), taking it to the hilt."

But in the videos, he explains, "everyone from Alaska knows what's real."

Baked Alaska has more than 5,000 Twitter fans, and that is his true platform. He makes a point of not just responding to his fans via twitter, but enlisting their advice, and accepting invitations to meet and hang out. He considers his videos a community project, and asks things like, "What should I make my next video about" (riding a polar bear!) and "What's the first word that comes to your mind?" then incorporating those things into lyrics and shoots.

But once in a while, the response is not so nice; in fact, his YouTube comments are like watching swing state news in an election year.

"I've gotten death threats on YouTube," he says. "I never thought a video could make people so mad."

In the video "I Climb Mountains," someone suggested he fall off a mountain. He says he was pretty offended at first. But then he smiled, looked at me intently and adds, "I've thought about making a video called 'YouTube Haters' and including screen shots with all the comments."

I'm starting to like this guy and to dislike the negative commentators, particularly the one that said "rap about something that matters" in the one video -- "NSA (No Snooping Allowed)" -- that I thought really did matter beyond the scope of comedy and entertainment, and even the underlying social commentary. In fact, this is not my genre of music and I doubt I'm his target audience, but I hope he makes more videos like it. Big issues need to reach all people. Why not through this form of freedom of speech and expression?

Before He was Baked

Before he was Baked, he graduated from a local private high school. He told me which one but didn't want me to say. Maybe it would be uncool for him to associate with it. Or maybe he knows that graduating someone who uses the F-word all over the Internet isn't likely to attract many new parents to his alma mater.

Baked Alaska has the charisma of a former student body president. Parody videos he made in high school got even the teachers laughing. The more he thought about it later in life, the more he decided it was time to play to his own strengths.

"It was 100 percent good feedback; that's when it clicked for me. I've always been what Baked Alaska is, it just wasn't focused, or branded. People have always loved my videos. I'm known for prank wars, silly parodies and ridiculous outfits."

Indeed, when we met up, he was scruffy under a hat, wore an oversized army-green coat and had several large chains hanging around his neck, including the golden C3PO from Star Wars that appears in "I Climb Mountains." His wooden sunglasses were especially impressive. And although the mustache is a little weird, his actual persona is enthusiastic and articulate.

"I owe my English teacher a lot of credit. I use literary techniques in lyrics."

They're also full of what he refers to as expectancy violations. "It's when you say the complete opposi - Anchorage Daily News